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| Katie Rough: Teenage girl jailed for life for killing seven-year-old girl in York park | Katie Rough: Teenage girl jailed for life for killing seven-year-old girl in York park |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A mentally disturbed teenage girl who killed seven-year-old Katie Rough in a park has been given a life sentenced by a judge. | |
| The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 15 when she smothered the child and then slashed her with a Stanley knife in York. | |
| A judge ordered the teenager to be detained for a minimum of five years after she admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility in the “truly exceptional case”. | |
| Katie’s family were in Leeds Crown Court for the sentencing, where the killer appeared via video-link sitting with her head down and clutching a soft toy. | |
| The girl did not speak to confirm her identity, with her name spoken by a court usher and youth worker instead. | |
| “The gravity of the offence of killing a small child speaks for itself,” Justice Soole told her. "The level of danger to the public is high. | |
| “In the circumstances of your continuing silence, the critical question is whether there is any reliable estimate as to how long that danger will continue.” | |
| A previous hearing heard the defendant was “troubled and damaged” before she killed Katie in the Woodthorpe area of York on 9 January. | |
| Justice Soole had made an interim hospital order for 12 weeks for further psychiatric tests on the teenager ahead of Friday’s sentencing hearing. | |
| In July, the court heard she smothered Katie with a gloved hand before stabbing her with a Stanley knife and remaining at the scene to be arrested. | |
| Graham Reeds, prosecuting, said the teenager had started self-harming, felt suicidal and had “developed an interest in the macabre” after losing friends at school. | |
| “She was having thoughts that her family and other people were not human and were robots,” he added. | |
| “She did not believe this thinking was irrational and that it had some foundation, it was found she was suffering from delusional thoughts.” | |
| Elizabeth Jenkins, the deputy chief crown prosecutor for Yorkshire, said the “appalling crime” had caused Katie’s family unimaginable grief. | |
| “The defendant pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Katie on the grounds of diminished responsibility and we accepted that plea after very careful consideration of the psychiatric reports,” she added. | |
| “Our thoughts remain with Katie’s family as they have been throughout.” | |
| Additional reporting by PA |